PM backs rural renewal, calls for more investment

HA NOI (VNS)— Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung yesterday outlined the need to seek private as well as State investment to build new style rural areas.

Addressing a conference on the subject, the PM said building new rural areas was an important policy that had won the support of people nationwide.

Noting that rural areas had witnessed many positive changes in the three years since the policy was introduced, he said investment for the programme was limited.

He added that many agencies and local administrations still failed to grasp the importance of the policy.

Dung said greater efforts were needed to make sure 20 percent of all communes nationwide met all the criteria for new rural areas by 2015.

The PM said priority should be given to building roads, irrigation, power supplies, health care, education and telecommunications.

He also asked local authorities to adopt policies to attract more investment for industrial production and services, thus creating more jobs and greater incomes.

The conference was told that thanks to the policy, infrastructure in many rural areas had been upgraded, while incomes and living conditions of rural residents had improved remarkably.

At present, 185 communes have achieved all 19 criteria for new rural areas and nearly 600 others have met 15 to 18 of the criteria. On average, each commune has so far fulfilled 8.47 criteria compared to 4.7 in 2011.

Reports noted that the revision of the criteria to suit specific situations in different regions had contributed to the positive outcomes.

Production planning and new production models were the bright spots in the implementation of the programme.

Most provinces and cities have built large-scale fields and promoted mechanisation in agricultural production. Many localities have successfully established economic models combining agriculture and tourism, or traditional craft village and tourism.

Infrastructure also received due attention. There are nearly 5,000 projects now under way building 64,000km of rural roads.

There are 19 national criteria for new rural areas, which cover building infrastructure, improving production capacity, building public works, protecting landscape and environment, and the promotion of local traditions and cultural identities. — VNS